365 Days In A Year

There are three-hundred and sixty five days in a year. All of which, you're given chances, ideas, opportunities, memories and etc. I've done all I could to treasure this three-hundred and sixty five days. I guess, I've ended the greatest year in High School, met the greatest people in College, had fun with friends in college. I couldn't be more thankful to have met these people. In the start of 2013, I was having doubts. Who wouldn't be? I was about to finish High School and had no prior knowledge with regards to how college life would be. I was... afraid. Was I afraid? I probably was. It's been so long since I was a high school student. (Yes, the amount of months that have passed is enough for me to call it "so long".) Transitioning from High School to College was PROBABLY going to be a drag if it weren't for the Chatters of 2013. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't have had the strength to run as an independent candidate during the freshmen elections.

Secondly, this year wouldn't have been great if it wasn't for N61. They're the people that really made me feel like I'm one of them. I wasn't close with my block, for the obvious reason that the block was divided into different groups. Furthermore, there was one dominant group that felt like they were the ones leading the entire block; so no. I disliked the fact that my block was like that. N61, however, was the block who was kind enough to take me in. I've made the greatest friends there too. Based from my point of view, they're the friends I know I can count on. I'd like to mention team "How To Save A Life", a self-named team whose name was based on The Fray's song "How to Save A Life". I've had fun with them in the past few months. The adventures, the laughter, the tears, the tiredness. I could never forget those.

Lastly, my friends. Too general? The numerous people who have been making my day a happy one constantly. They made my year bearable, and that alone is something to thank them for. I'd like to thank the experiences I've had in this year. They made me, become me. Although I'm feeling quite troubled right now, this too would probably pass. Although, it pains me because as time passes by, I begin to notice that I'm losing friends just as fast as I gain them. It just fills my heart with joy, however, that the people who have never left my side was Mech. I guess it's true that High School friends are there, and will never leave you. Although, they are quite scumbag at times, I know it's just our way to bond. I just hope 2014 would be better.

Don't English Me

The title of the documentary which I will be discussing is “Don’t English Me”, a documentary from i-Witness from GMA-7 hosted by Howie Severino. The show I-Witness is a documentary show which is always being aired in GMA-7. The intended audience was none other than the Filipino people, regardless of what their social status was. The documentary aimed to make people of different social statuses aware of what was happening around them. It tried to make them further understand the different hardships that different people from different social statuses are facing not only due to financial constraints, but also due to educational attainments.         

            The purpose of the documentary is to make people aware that not everyone receives the same level of education as everyone. As a result, people have a hard time defining and differentiating the numerous types of words that are present. Majority of the people would just rely on how the word is heard rather than how it is written, or spelled. Furthermore, people do not care about what education they receive for they believe that education is just the same. What the director wants to convey to the audience is simple, education is important. Being well educated means being able to comprehend and understand the different things which are present in our society. Additionally, being well-educated means that we are capable of further improving our country’s literacy rate. In turn, we would be able to improve our communication skills which would raise our level of efficiency.

            Prior to watching the documentary, I was aware about the different problems that our society was facing. This is evident along Taft Avenue, and in front of De La Salle University. I am under the impression that the people around these areas, the ones who are utilizing the “padyaks” are the people who are unfortunate enough not to get the level of education that they desired, the level of education they needed. I expected to see worse. From what I know, there are people who have infinitesimal comprehension with regards to the English language. I don’t believe they wanted to, but rather I think they were deprived of that right. From what I know, people who reach a certain age will start to become lazy to learn new things. This would be a factor that would hinder their understanding on things that would greatly augment their skills in understanding the desired language. I wanted to ask, why isn’t the government giving much attention to this issue? If they really believe that manpower is their greatest asset, then why doesn’t the government invest heavily on things that would heavily improve the quality of education that each person will receive? Does the government really intend to do so?

            The documentary is about the people who aren’t that proficient in the English language. They’re the type of people that we criticize because they’re usually wrong with what they say, and how they spell it. When the level of education of the teachers were questioned, it became a point of interest because it was the point in the documentary wherein you could find out whether or not the teacher was capable of handling her students as well as herself. The various locations wherein the documentary was filmed also played in defining and shaping the information gained from the documentary.

            With regards to the finished product, the sound effects were well placed. The documentary was really well edited, and the render quality was nice. The angling and the timestamp editing was used efficiently. The interviews were thorough and really gave an in-depth with regards to the subject. The special effects like slo-mo, and fast motion which were used in the documentary were a big help in showing the events of the documentary.

            In general, I liked the documentary. I did not like a specific part because each part was able to show something unique, something different which the other parts did not have. I’ve learned that not everyone is lucky enough to have the same level of education that I have right now. Furthermore, what caught my attention is that though there are different people and different ways of learning, not everyone is blessed to be able to understand and learn things fast. The only drawback of the documentary is that it was too short, and that there could be more things which could be added to it. I would recommend this documentary to sociologists as it would allow them to immerse themselves further into the depths of society. 

Reference :

jdmuzhikero (2013, July 9). "Don't English Me" [Youtube] Retrieved from : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xUThy6JMY0

What are the prospects and limits of my power as a Citizen?

I am a student, that is true. But I never allowed myself to just be a student, I wanted to stand out. I didn't simply allow myself to just be a student, I allowed myself to be a harbinger of change, a harbinger of development. I wanted to become just that, because I wanted the future to be how I visioned it to be. As early as now, I'm aiming not only for my future, but for the future of the people around me as well. I want to be able to live in a world where everyone is cooperating towards development. I want to be able to live in a world where everyone is living their peaceful lives, enjoying the things that are present because they worked hard for it and deserved to be where they are right now. I'm a citizen of the Philippines, and I'm doing what I can to achieve this thing that we all desire; development.

Everyone in this country wanted development, but never really did something to achieve that. I wanted to be different, I wanted to do what I could in my power to reach and attain such. At the age of 15, I got into investing in the stock market. This wasn't to brag my riches, but to prepare myself and my future. But then I realized, I'm not shaping my future alone. I'm also shaping the future of our country. Why and how? Whenever I invest in the stock market, part of the proceeds go to the companies in our country. Through that, they are able to flourish and further improve their outputs. A lot of people say they have dreams for the country, but what have they really done to do so? I'm doing my share, my part in this citadel of improvement that we all so desire.

Yes, I am faced with limits that hinder me from attaining this dream. But even so, I'm doing whatever I can and I'm overlooking those limits. I don't want to be a statistic in this country of ours, I want to be different. I want to be able to look into a clear future, a future for my kids. Yes, for now, I may be a student. Yes, I may be limited to financial constraints. Yes, I may be limited because of my age. But I know, when the time comes, I will be able to pursue my dreams for the future.

Nothing will ever stop me from doing what I can for the country I love. I am a Filipino, and I am a student of De La Salle University. I dream of a better future for the best country to be in.

What major insight have I gained so far from my on-going experiences in engaging in the initiative?

As me and my groupmates were discussing as to what problem we were going to address, I realized something.

"We should tackle the things that are abused and overlooked in society right now."

Thus, we chose to target the people who are smoking. Yes, smoking is a vice. Yes, smoking relaxes people. But smoking? It is really something that should be addressed to appropriately. Statistically speaking, smoking has killed a lot of people.

From our government initiative project, we believe that we're able to subdue some of the people that we were aiming to address. We believe that smoking is a growing concern in our school (yes, our target is our school.) We chose smoking because it's one of the things that people cannot live without, but also the thing that kills people. Additionally, smoking debilitates our health. If we aim to be an effective country, then we have to subdue these vices. This became our concern because we wanted to aim for societal development. After all, we're students of AB- Developmental Studies. So far, we've been trying to ask and convince some people to stop smoking. We explain what smoking does, what its harmful effects are and the like.

If we can accomplish this, we will be a step closer to improvement. What we're doing so far is we're telling people near agno the dangerous effects of smoking. So far though, we believe we're doing okay. I've learned that the people who are smoking just smoke because they're stressed. What we aim to tell them is that there are alternatives to smoking.